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'City Fun' At Manchester District Music Archive

Back in the day MCR music mag with Morrissey article hits digi-land

Published on December 11th 2012.

MANCHESTER District Music Archive's brand new online exhibition:'City Fun - The Hidden History of Manchester's Post-Punk Fanzines'went live over the weekend. This story comes to Confidential from Dave Haslam.

Morrissey was a reader and a fan of 'City Fun' but he chose to write in the fanzine under the pseudonym 'Burt Macho'. It was just as the Smiths were taking off; the same issue carries an advert for the first Smiths single.

Included in the pages of 'City Fun' is an article credited to Burt Macho which has now been established as the work of Morrissey; now unmasked for the first time.

The 'City Fun' fanzine was published between 1978 and 1984 and is a remarkable eye-witness account of one of the most fertile periods in Manchester's music history; in its pages you get the unfolding insider story of the rise of Joy Division, the death of Ian Curtis, the beginnings of the Smiths, and the launch of the Hacienda plus insight into the city's independent labels, long-lost venuesand half-forgotten bands.

'City Fun' was one of many fanzines of the era; home-made, and cheaply but passionately produced magazines aimed at lovers of non-mainstream music, and sold by hand at gigs and in record shops.

Many contributors have since found fame, among them the artist LinderSterling.

Researchers working on this 'City Fun' online archive havealso established that an article about Sandie Shaw by 'Burt Macho' was a contribution by Morrissey.

Morrissey was a reader and a fan of 'City Fun' but he chose to write in the fanzine under the pseudonym 'Burt Macho'. It was just as the Smiths were taking off; the same issue carries an advert for the first Smiths single.

The 'City Fun' online exhibition is part of Manchester Histories Festival's ongoing celebration and investigation of Manchester's fanzines.

Festival Director Claire Turner; "This online exhibition creates a permanent record of an era of alternative music in Manchester that's now become internationally famous. The archive is asource of information to historians and a source of inspiration forsubsequent generations."

The online exhibition of the 'City Fun' archive can be found here. Click here.

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